1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to product search, and in particular to methods for searching, filtering and selecting event tickets for purchase.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many ticket-related Web sites enable users to purchase event tickets on-line. These Web sites allow users to browse or search a list of events, to choose an event (e.g. “Kenny Chesney, at the TD Garden at 7 pm on May 28”), to choose their specific seats within the venue for the selected event, and then to submit their order to purchase.
These Web sites provide some convenience for purchasing tickets, but place much of the burden of finding relevant tickets on the user. For example, a user may choose a specific event just to find that the event is sold out, or may find that the cheapest tickets available for an event are beyond the user's budget. Or, a user may want to sit in a particular section of the venue, and is forced to research each event individually to find if any tickets are available in that section. Or, a user may wish to go see a “Red Sox home game on an upcoming weekend, for less than $150 per ticket”. Existing Web sites force the user to manually research each an every weekend Red Sox game at Fenway Park to see if there are any tickets for less than $150.